🏴 Kirkwall (Orkney), Scotland, UK — Cruise Port Guide
An archipelago off the north coast of Scotland with more prehistory per square mile than almost anywhere in Europe — a Neolithic village older than the pyramids, a stone circle, a red sandstone cathedral, and a wartime anchorage full of sunken German warships.
Updated September 2026
Quick facts
Getting ashore
When to visit Kirkwall (Orkney)
May to September for the long daylight — in midsummer it barely gets dark. Wind is the constant, in any month.
Good to know
Orkney is exposed and tenders are cancelled in wind more often than most ports; if the sea is up, the call may be dropped altogether. Skara Brae limits visitor numbers, so book the ship's excursion or a local tour early rather than turning up.
Things to do in Kirkwall (Orkney)
Skara Brae
A Neolithic village of ten houses preserved under sand for 4,000 years. About 30 minutes from Kirkwall, on a beautiful bay, and unlike any other ruin you will see.
Ring of Brodgar & Stones of Stenness
A 104-metre stone circle on an isthmus between two lochs, with an older and taller circle nearby. Open, free and usually windswept.
St Magnus Cathedral
Right in the middle of Kirkwall, five minutes from the pier. Red sandstone, Norse founding, and the bones of St Magnus himself in a pillar.
Italian Chapel
Two Nissen huts turned into a painted Baroque chapel by Italian prisoners of war in the 1940s. Small, moving and about 20 minutes away.
Scapa Flow & the Churchill Barriers
Drive the causeways built by POWs to seal the anchorage, past blockships still breaking the surface, with beaches either side.
Highland Park distillery
One of the most northerly whisky distilleries in Scotland, still malting its own barley by hand over peat cut on the island.
What to eat
- Orkney beef
- Scallops
- Bere bannock
- Orkney fudge
- Highland Park whisky
Weather by month
Best time to visit: May–Sep for the long daylight; June barely gets dark
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 44° | 36° | 4.4" |
| Feb | 44° | 35° | 3.3" |
| Mar | 46° | 37° | 3" |
| Apr | 50° | 39° | 2.4" |
| May | 55° | 44° | 2" |
| Jun | 59° | 48° | 2.3" |
| Jul | 62° | 52° | 2.6" |
| Aug | 62° | 52° | 2.9" |
| Sep | 58° | 49° | 3.7" |
| Oct | 52° | 44° | 4.9" |
| Nov | 47° | 40° | 4.9" |
| Dec | 44° | 37° | 4.6" |
A little history
Skara Brae was uncovered by a storm in 1850 and dates to around 3180 BC — older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, with stone dressers and beds still standing in the houses.
Orkney was Norse, not Scottish, until 1468, when it was pledged to Scotland as part of a Danish princess's dowry and never redeemed. The dialect and place names are still full of Old Norse.
St Magnus Cathedral, begun in 1137 in red and yellow sandstone, is owned not by a church but by the people of Kirkwall — a gift from the king in 1486.
Scapa Flow was the Royal Navy's main anchorage in both world wars. In 1919 the interned German High Seas Fleet scuttled itself here — 52 ships went down in a single afternoon, and several wrecks are still dived today.
The Italian Chapel was built by prisoners of war out of two Nissen huts, scrap metal and concrete, and painted to look like a Baroque church. It is startling, and it is tiny.